Plainlist
The goal you set
an hour ago,
still on screen.
I have ADHD. I'd open a shiny task app, set a plan, and twenty minutes later I was three tabs deep with no idea what I was supposed to be doing. So I built the opposite: one plain-text file, the goal kept in sight, and a Focus mode that shows only the next action.
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Mac-only today, with Windows, iOS, and Android coming soon.
# Goal for today (kept in sight) 🎯 ship the onboarding email # Next action — nothing else shown - write the welcome subject line @me now # Later, folded away until you finish - draft body copy - add the download link
Why I built this
Every productivity app became one more thing to babysit.
The pattern was always the same. I'd get excited about a new to-do app, spend an evening setting up projects, areas, labels, colours, and filters. For a week it felt like control. Then the setup itself became a chore — a second inbox I had to tend before I could do any actual work. The app was managing me instead of the other way around.
The real ADHD problem was never a lack of features. It was losing the thread. I'd sit down to do one thing, get pulled sideways by a notification, and surface an hour later having forgotten the point entirely. What I needed wasn't more structure to configure. I needed the one thing I'm doing right now in front of me, and everything else out of the way until it's done.
So Plainlist is deliberately small: one plain-text .todo file you can read in any editor, plus a goal you can pin in view, a Plan that puts today on a timeline, and a Focus mode that hides everything except the next action. No streaks to protect, no gamified guilt, nothing to babysit. The rest of this page isn't a feature list — it's how a scattered day actually goes when the file does the remembering for you.
A day in the file
How a distractible Tuesday actually goes.
Same file all day. You add a couple of tags in the morning; the rest is just typing. Here's the loop, moment by moment.
09:10 · Brain-dump & pick one goal
Get it out of your head first.
The morning starts as noise: six things half-remembered, two of them urgent. I dump all of it into the file as plain lines, then do the one decision that saves the day — mark a single outcome with 🎯 and an optional @span. That's the thing today is about. Everything else is negotiable.
Three tasks get a @start time so the morning has a shape instead of a pile.
🎯 get the release notes out the door Work: - write release notes @me 09:30 - reply to the two urgent emails 11:00 - idea: try a shorter changelog format Admin: - book the dentist - pay the invoice @due(Tue)
09:30 · Switch to Focus and the noise disappears
One task on screen. The goal above it.
This is the part that fixes my brain's failure mode. In Focus the whole list collapses to the next action only, with the 🎯 goal pinned above it. There's no wall of undone items to freeze on — just the single thing to start, and a visible reminder of why. When it's done I mark it, and the next one appears. Nothing to decide, nothing to scroll.
🎯 get the release notes out the door ▸ write release notes @me # two more waiting, hidden until this is done
10:40 · A thought hijacks you mid-task
Capture it without breaking the thread.
Mid-sentence I remember I never renewed the domain. Old me would open a browser “quickly” and lose forty minutes. Instead Quick Capture adds the thought to your file without opening the full app — one global shortcut, type the line, it lands in the right place, and I'm back on the release notes before the distraction takes hold.
# one shortcut, one line, then back to work > renew the domain @due(Fri) saved to Admin — full app never opened
17:00 · See what you actually shipped
Proof the scattered day still moved.
ADHD days often feel like nothing happened even when they didn't. The Done view collects what you finished, grouped by day, so on a chaotic Tuesday there's concrete evidence you moved things forward. On the bad days that's not a nice-to-have — it's the difference between “I'm useless” and “oh, I did five things.”
# Tuesday - write release notes - reply to urgent emails - renew the domain - clear inbox to zero - stand-up notes
Honest cons
Who this isn't for.
I'd rather you skip Plainlist than get frustrated. It genuinely does not fit everyone, and ADHD needs vary a lot.
You should probably NOT use Plainlist if…
Can I use Plainlist on my phone?
Not yet, but Windows, iOS, and Android are all coming soon. Plainlist is Mac-only today — if you plan and capture mostly on a phone, hang tight a little longer.
Does Plainlist have reminders that buzz my wrist?
No. There are no push notifications or Apple Watch alerts. If time-blind alarms are what keep you on track, a system with real reminders may serve you better.
Is plain text hard to use if typing feels like friction?
It can be. The file is the point, but if editing an indented text outline sounds tiring rather than calming, a visual checkbox app will fit your brain better.
Can I import my existing tasks from another app automatically?
No, there's no one-click import. Migration is copy, paste, and reshape by hand — fine for a fresh start, tedious for a huge existing system.
Does Plainlist support shared or team lists?
No. Plainlist is single-user and single-file. No collaboration, no assignments.